In 2004, businessman and caver John Ackerman drilled an entryway into Goliath Cave, a huge and unexplored complex in the karst region of southeastern Minnesota. Squeezing through tiny openings, scuba diving through silt-filled waters, scaling walls, and traversing crevasses, he and his fellow cavers painstakingly mapped ever-further reaches of the complex in an exploration that continues to this day.

But man-made caves that do not breathe can be even more dangerous than their natural cousins. In St. Paul, also in 2004, five teenagers entered an area where intermittent fires robbed the air of oxygen. Only two emerged alive.

Cary Griffith, author of the acclaimed Lost in the Wild, intertwines these two incidents, showing the dangers experienced by both groups--one highly prepared and experienced and the other tragically ill equipped. With equal parts of suspense and caution, Opening Goliath never leaves readers alone in the dark.

Cary J. Griffith, who specializes in writing about the outdoors, is the author of Lost in the Wild: Danger and Survival in the North Woods.